News Releases

Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory

.

Updates every hour. Last Updated: 25-Apr-2025 05:08 ET (25-Apr-2025 09:08 GMT/UTC)

Ensuring a bright future for diamond electronics and sensors

DOE/Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory
Peer-Reviewed Publication

To expand the potential use of diamond in semiconductor and quantum technologies, researchers are developing improved processes for growing the material at lower temperatures that won’t damage the silicon in computer chips. These advances include insights into creating protective hydrogen layers on quantum diamonds without damaging crucial properties like nitrogen-vacancy centers.

Journal: Diamond and Related Materials
Funder: DOE/US Department of Energy, U.S. National Science Foundation, DOE/US Department of Energy, Australian Research Council

Researchers find clues to the mysterious heating of the sun’s atmosphere

DOE/Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory
Peer-Reviewed Publication

PPPL researchers have made a significant advancement in understanding the underlying heating mechanism of the sun’s atmosphere, finding that reflected plasma waves could drive the heating of coronal holes.

Journal: The Astrophysical Journal
Funder: DOE/US Department of Energy, U.S. National Science Foundation, DOE/US Department of Energy

New AI models of plasma heating lead to important corrections in computer code used for fusion research

DOE/Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory
Reports and Proceedings

New artificial intelligence models for plasma heating can do more than was previously thought possible, not only increasing the prediction speed 10 million times while preserving accuracy but also correctly predicting plasma heating in cases where the original numerical code failed.

Funder: DOE/US Department of Energy, DOE/US Department of Energy

Stopping off-the-wall behavior in fusion reactors

DOE/Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory
Reports and Proceedings

New experimental results suggest that sprinkling boron into a tokamak could shield the wall of the fusion vessel and prevent atoms from the wall from getting into the plasma. A new computer modeling framework shows the boron powder may only need to be sprinkled from one location. The experimental results and computer modeling framework will be presented this week at the 66th Annual Meeting of the American Physical Society Division of Plasma Physics in Atlanta.

Funder: DOE/US Department of Energy, DOE/US Department of Energy, DOE/US Department of Energy
Meeting: Annual Meeting of the American Physical Society Division of Plasma Physics

A new and unique fusion reactor comes together with PPPL's contributions

DOE/Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory
Peer-Reviewed Publication

As part of the global effort to harness power from fusing plasma, PPPL and the University of Seville’s Plasma Science and Fusion Technology Lab worked on the computer codes, engineering and physics for a new and unique fusion reactor: the SMall Aspect Ratio Tokamak.

Journal: Review of Scientific Instruments
Funder: DOE/US Department of Energy, European Research Council Grant Agreement, European Research Council Grant Agreements, Euratom Research and Training Programme Grant Agreement, Junta de Andalucía Ayuda a Infraestructuras y Equipamiento de I+D+i, Proyectos I+D+i FEDER Andalucía

Replacing hype about artificial intelligence with accurate measurements of success

DOE/Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A new paper in Nature Machine Intelligence notes that journal articles reporting how well machine learning models solve certain kinds of equations are often overly optimistic. The researchers suggest two rules for reporting results and systemic changes to encourage clarity and accuracy in reporting.

Journal: Nature Machine Intelligence
Funder: DOE/US Department of Energy, DOE/US Department of Energy

Emily Carter wins prestigious Marsha I. Lester Award from American Chemical Society

DOE/Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory
Grant and Award Announcement

Nominees for the award must be members of the ACS’s physical chemistry division. The winner receives the award at the meeting, gives a research presentation, and receives an honorarium. Carter is just the second person to receive this newly established award.

Trailblazers in plasma turbulence computer simulations win 2024 James Clerk Maxwell Prize

DOE/Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory
Grant and Award Announcement

Greg Hammett and Bill Dorland have been awarded the 2024 James Clerk Maxwell Prize for Plasma Physics for their pioneering work on turbulence in plasma, a key challenge in the quest for fusion energy. Their decades of research have transformed the understanding of plasma behavior and contributed to advances in both fusion and astrophysical sciences.

Bubbling, frothing and sloshing: Long-hypothesized plasma instabilities finally observed

DOE/Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory
Peer-Reviewed Publication

PPPL scientists have observed new details of how plasma interacts with magnetic fields, potentially providing insight into the formation of enormous plasma jets that stretch between the stars.

Journal: Physical Review Research
Funder: DOE/US Department of Energy, DOE/US Department of Energy

Quenching the intense heat of a fusion plasma may require a well-placed liquid metal evaporator

DOE/Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory
Peer-Reviewed Publication

New fusion simulations of the inside of a tokamak reveal the ideal spot for a “cave” with flowing liquid lithium is near the bottom by the center stack, as the evaporating metal particles should land in just the right spot to dissipate excess heat from the plasma.

Journal: Nuclear Fusion
Funder: DOE/US Department of Energy, DOE/US Department of Energy

1
2
3